Between those walls
by Lady Lizzie
Summary: Tonks got captured by her uncle, Lucius Malfoy. Will she be rescued and by who?


A/N: This fic was written on the request of a friend. I want to thank my beta's Jaxie and Smitten for their quick work.

Pitch black. No candles, no torches…nothing. Tonks didn't even know if she had actually opened her eyes or not. What she did know was that she had no idea where she was or how she'd gotten there and that her head was sore. As the young Auror tried to move from her sitting position on the cold, stone floor, she heard the rattling of chains and felt the cold steel around her wrists, ankles and waist. Whoever had captured her had done a good job and obviously didn't want to risk that she would escape.

Tonks took a deep breath, rested her head against the wall behind her and did her best to focus on what had happened before she got into this situation. The pink-haired witch absentmindedly rolled her head from left to right and back again against the stones of the wall behind her when she suddenly noticed a dim light in what she thought was the middle of the room. She stared intensely at it and saw that it was a flame that slowly grew bigger and bigger. The bigger it became, the more light it spilled and Tonks began to recognize different shapes around it. The flame itself came from a candle that stood upon a table, a goblet and a few small bottles next to it.

As the flame kept on growing, the witch saw the light reflect upon something white, a short distance above it. She couldn't quite figure out what it was until, all of a sudden, torches on the walls around her began to burn as well. Slowly at first, then growing and casting more light. The white object was a mask, a Death Eater's mask.

The Death Eater murmured an incantation that made the flames of the torches roar as they lit up the room properly. Tonks gasped at the noise of the small fires burning around her and suddenly began to get an idea who her captor was. Exquisite robes, ice blue eyes staring through the slits of the mask and white-blonde hair flowing over broad shoulders - this was Lucius Malfoy. 'Uncle Lucius' even.

An unwelcome shiver ran down the witch's spine and she felt the goose bumps rise upon her skin as her throat became dry. In her training as an Auror, they'd prepared her somewhat for possible hostile retaliation but she also knew her uncle's reputation and slightly doubted if she'd be properly prepared for what he could come up with. She took a deep breath and kept reminding herself about her lessons and that she could do this. What didn't kill her would only make her stronger. Tonks gathered all her courage and straightened her back as much as she could in her chains when Lucius strode over to her. He stopped at her feet, looked down on her and grinned sarcastically.

"Hello…Uncle Lucy," Tonks smirked as she bravely looked up at him.

Although she feared the blonde a little, she simply couldn't resist provoking him, to see his temper rise rapidly from her words. Besides, she was rather sure that she'd get out of this. She was the good one and they always won over evil, right? The smile on her lips soon faded as she looked at his face, or what she could see of it. His eyes were narrowed and pierced her with such an intensity that she'd never seen before, that she couldn't look at them anymore.

As the witch lowered her gaze, she saw that his hands were clenched in tight fists, one clutching the snakehead atop his cane. Then all of a sudden, his free hand grabbed the front of her robes and shoved her high up against the wall as far as the chains allowed. Dangling high above the ground, there was nothing she could do since their steel prisons held her limbs down.

"Nymphadora, I apparently gave you too much credit since I assumed you'd know better than to provoke me," Lucius said in a remarkably calm voice.

His calm behaviour was exactly what scared the witch. She had confronted the blonde before and then he had lost his temper merely by looking at her.

Lucius snorted disapprovingly as he lowered her until her feet touched the floor again. He took a step back and let his gaze rake over her body with such an intense look of disgust that she folded her arms uncomfortably and stared at the ground.

"What do you want from me, Lucius?" she asked to break the awkward silence.

"There are quite a few things I can think of but for now, I want information," Lucius said.

"What kind of information?" Tonks asked as she straightened her back.

"Don't play games with me, Nymphadora. I know that you're an Auror and work with that old fool Dumbledore to restore his Order. Share a few names and I won't hurt you…much," Lucius sneered.

"Never," Tonks spat at him and took a step forward. "I'd rather die," she said through gritted teeth.

The witch saw his eyes narrow again as his hand suddenly came down and smacked her in the face with such force that she lost her balance and fell. Carefully, she touched the sore flesh of her jaw and tasted a bit of blood. She had bitten her own tongue. The blonde wizard grabbed her robes again and put her back against the wall, knocking her head against it in the process.

"Be careful with what you wish for, Nymphadora. I could take you to the edge of life, bring you back and start all over again…just for the fun of it. Now be a good little niece and tell me who else works for that Muggle-loving fool," Lucius sneered.

Tonks was about to explode when he insulted professor Dumbledore and in a flare of pure anger, she spat at him. The snow-white mask was now be smudged with drops of blood.

The wizard took a few steps back, removed his mask and placed it on the table next to the candle, his gaze never leaving the young Auror. He unsheathed his wand from the cane, aimed it at her and very coldly cursed her with the Cruciatus Curse.

In an instant, she fell to the ground screaming and writhing in pain. The jerking of her limbs made the chains clatter onto the stone floor in a sadistic symphony. The pain soared through the witch's body, every muscle, every tiny bone, every little vein caused her agony as if someone was using her as a pincushion. But then all of a sudden, it stopped. The pain slowly faded and left her panting on the floor, her sore body covered with drops of cold sweat.

Tonks winced as Lucius' hand suddenly cupped her chin and forced her to look at him, crouched down at her side.

"I have to leave you for now but don't worry, I won't forget you're down here," the wizard sneered.

He let go of her, stood up and as he strode out of the room, the flames began to fade. The young witch curled up into a foetal position, closed her eyes and concentrated on the sounds the wizard made on his way out. She heard the rustle of his robes, the soft thuds of his boots each time he took a step away from her, his voice murmuring a spell to unlock the door, the turning of the knob and then she heard him swear under his breath.

Tonks opened her eyes and tried to get up in an attempt to see what was happening. Lucius was backing into the room but she couldn't figure out why until she heard a familiar voice.

"Lucius Malfoy, what brings you to these dungeons?" Remus Lupin asked.

"I'm here to see my son and on my way to a board meeting with the Headmaster," the blonde wizard replied.

Both men had come to a stop in the middle of the room, Lupin's wand aimed at Lucius' chest. As Lupin quickly scanned the room, he saw the young witch chained to the wall but let his guard off a few seconds too long and found the blonde wizard's wand pointed at him.

"Do you always bring captured Aurors with you when you visit Draco?" Lupin asked.

Lucius' eyes narrowed and his face turned into a menacing scowl, then hit Lupin in the chest with the Impedimenta curse. The latter flew backwards and crashed onto the table with such force that the candle, bottles and Lucius' white mask were whipped off. The heavy candelabra that held the candle rolled through the room and stopped at Tonks' feet.

As fast as she could, she picked it up and flung it at Lucius' head. The wizard ducked right in time and although it had missed its target, it caused a distraction that Lupin took full advantage of.

He jumped back to his feet and disarmed Lucius with the Expelliarmus spell, then threw him against the wall with Impedimenta. The blonde's head hit the wall hard and disoriented him shortly but that gave Lupin enough time to magically tie him up.

Now that Lucius was immobilised, Lupin rushed over to Tonks, made the chains disappear, picked her up from the floor and pulled her into a tight embrace. The young witch was so happy to be released again that she couldn't control her emotions any longer and began to cry into her saviour's chest. Lupin kept hugging her, softly kissing the top of her head but then let her go and looked into her eyes.

"Come on, Tonks. We've got to tell Dumbledore that his dungeons need to be cleaned," Lupin said and earned a weak smile.

As the witch saw the blonde wizard on the floor, packed tightly in ropes but still with the haughty look on his face, she broke away from Lupin, walked towards him and grabbed the candelabra again.

"Hey uncle Lucy, it's Tonks," she spat at him, than gave the wizard a blow to his head with the heavy candelabra, which knocked him unconscious.

She raised her arm high above her head to strike again but Lupin had grabbed her waist.

"Don't do it Tonks. He'll already have a throbbing headache tomorrow. It would only make you as disgusting as he is," Lupin said.

The witch looked from her uncle into Lupin's eyes and nodded. She slowly lowered her arm and dropped the candelabra with a loud clank on the floor.

"Remus, take me out of here please," she said as tears filled her eyes again.

"Of course," came the soft reply and the wizard put his arm protectively over her shoulder and together they left the room.

The end.


End file.
